Centerbridge Said to Consider $102 Million Injection Into Apcoa

Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Centerbridge Partners LP is in talks
to inject as much as 75 million euros ($102 million) into Apcoa
Group GmbH to help the German car park operator finance a
potential cash outflow this month, according to two people with
direct knowledge of the negotiations.

The investment firm is discussing the financing with
Apcoa’s lenders, said the person, who asked not to be identified
because the talks are private. Apcoa would need consent from all
its lenders if it obtains debt ranking above existing
obligations.

Apcoa operates car parks including those at Gatwick and
Heathrow airports and is seeking to replace about 640 million
euros of loans maturing next year. It told creditors on Oct. 29
of a “possible temporary cash outflow of about 20 million
euros”, Tilman Kube, a spokesman for the Stuttgart-based
business, said in an e-mailed statement.

The business has stable liquidity and “on an operational
level the company is doing well and has entered its strongest
quarter in terms of cash generation,” Kube wrote. He declined
to comment on Centerbridge’s potential investment.

Centerbridge, based in New York, has bought pieces of
Apcoa’s debt from other lenders and now holds at least 200
million euros of the loans, the people said. Officials at
Centerbridge didn’t respond to telephone calls and an e-mail
seeking comment on Apcoa.

Apcoa Earnings

Eurazeo SA paid 885 million euros in 2007 for a majority
stake in Apcoa backed by 660 million euros of loans, according
to data compiled by Bloomberg. It renegotiated the terms of its
loan pact in December 2009, according to a Eurazeo annual
report. Lazard Ltd and Rothschild are advising the private-equity company on the refinancing, Apcoa’s Kube wrote.

Apcoa generated 66 million euros of earnings before
interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in 2012,
according to a statement on Eurazeo’s website. Earnings totaled
25.5 million euros in the first half of 2013.

Centerbridge has invested about 2.5 billion euros in
European companies, a person with knowledge of the company has
said. It agreed to invest 25 million euros to help restructure
the debt of ATU Auto-Teile-Unger, the German car-repair business
said last month.